“I applaud you for being ‘a good neighbor,’” Skip Teaster, of the University of Georgia Fanning Institute, told the Hinesville mayor and city council during a regular meeting July 1. Teaster gave city officials the results of a visual preference study conducted by the Fanning Institute with input from a citizens committee.
The study, a photographical presentation of the best and worst of Hinesville, will help Hinesville Mayor Jim Thomas, the council and Hinesville City Manager Billy Edwards develop an implementation strategy to resolve issues reflected in the study, Teaster said.
“The committee members also made a log of residents’ comments,” he said.
Hinesville’s proximity to interstates 95 and 16, as well as the Savannah and Brunswick ports, are positive aspects of the city, the Fanning Institute representative said. He also praised the city for providing its residents with an excellent quality of life. Teaster said another positive is the city’s efforts to forge global economic partnerships, such as with Hinesville’s sister city in China.
Where Hinesville needs improvement, Teaster said, is in the area of communication.
“We didn’t come to make anybody mad. We came to open your eyes,” he said.
Teaster also suggested Hinesville, its fellow Liberty County cities and municipalities and the county work more closely to form an economic development plan for the community as a whole.
The Fanning Institute representative also said there is “a lot of apathy” in Hinesville, and said residents needed more encouragement to get involved in the community. He suggested city leaders act as role models and volunteer themselves, setting a model for residents to follow.
“If you want something to happen in your community, take the initiative and do it yourself; and the state will help you,” Teaster said.
In other city business:
• The council postponed discussing a revision to the city’s job classification and wages because Edwards was out of town due to a death in his family. The mayor and council members will review recommended changes to a number of city positions at its July 15 meeting.
• The Hinesville city council reviewed proposed budget workshop dates. Budget workshops for city departments, such as police, fire, public works, inspections and the Hinesville Downtown Development Authority, are scheduled to begin in late August. A comprehensive budget hearing is tentatively set for mid-October.
• The council approved a number of rezoning requests including Dasher Management’s request to rezone 0.98 acres of land from a single family dwelling district to general commercial for the expansion of self-storage facilities on Highway 196.
Hinesville attorney Joel Olsteen’s company, Obro Inc., was granted two rezoning requests. The council approved the rezoning of Osteen’s 0.61-acre property at 404 E. Oglethorpe Highway from single-family dwelling to office institutional. Osteen’s 0.62-acre property at 101 Fraser St. also was rezoned from single-family dwelling to office institutional.
City council members also approved revising a specific development plan for Independence Settlement, now owned by Quinnco LLC. The company, which recently bought the property, wants to convert 139 townhouse lots into 80 single-family residential lots. The project was approved in 2007 under a previous owner and initially consisted of 149 lots. Eight townhouses were built under the original development plan. The subdivision is on 27.8 acres west of 15th Street and shares a common boundary with Fort Stewart.
The study, a photographical presentation of the best and worst of Hinesville, will help Hinesville Mayor Jim Thomas, the council and Hinesville City Manager Billy Edwards develop an implementation strategy to resolve issues reflected in the study, Teaster said.
“The committee members also made a log of residents’ comments,” he said.
Hinesville’s proximity to interstates 95 and 16, as well as the Savannah and Brunswick ports, are positive aspects of the city, the Fanning Institute representative said. He also praised the city for providing its residents with an excellent quality of life. Teaster said another positive is the city’s efforts to forge global economic partnerships, such as with Hinesville’s sister city in China.
Where Hinesville needs improvement, Teaster said, is in the area of communication.
“We didn’t come to make anybody mad. We came to open your eyes,” he said.
Teaster also suggested Hinesville, its fellow Liberty County cities and municipalities and the county work more closely to form an economic development plan for the community as a whole.
The Fanning Institute representative also said there is “a lot of apathy” in Hinesville, and said residents needed more encouragement to get involved in the community. He suggested city leaders act as role models and volunteer themselves, setting a model for residents to follow.
“If you want something to happen in your community, take the initiative and do it yourself; and the state will help you,” Teaster said.
In other city business:
• The council postponed discussing a revision to the city’s job classification and wages because Edwards was out of town due to a death in his family. The mayor and council members will review recommended changes to a number of city positions at its July 15 meeting.
• The Hinesville city council reviewed proposed budget workshop dates. Budget workshops for city departments, such as police, fire, public works, inspections and the Hinesville Downtown Development Authority, are scheduled to begin in late August. A comprehensive budget hearing is tentatively set for mid-October.
• The council approved a number of rezoning requests including Dasher Management’s request to rezone 0.98 acres of land from a single family dwelling district to general commercial for the expansion of self-storage facilities on Highway 196.
Hinesville attorney Joel Olsteen’s company, Obro Inc., was granted two rezoning requests. The council approved the rezoning of Osteen’s 0.61-acre property at 404 E. Oglethorpe Highway from single-family dwelling to office institutional. Osteen’s 0.62-acre property at 101 Fraser St. also was rezoned from single-family dwelling to office institutional.
City council members also approved revising a specific development plan for Independence Settlement, now owned by Quinnco LLC. The company, which recently bought the property, wants to convert 139 townhouse lots into 80 single-family residential lots. The project was approved in 2007 under a previous owner and initially consisted of 149 lots. Eight townhouses were built under the original development plan. The subdivision is on 27.8 acres west of 15th Street and shares a common boundary with Fort Stewart.